Five months after Sheriff David Morgan appealed his budget to Gov. Rick Scott's office, the Escambia County Commission has voted 3-2 on a preliminary budget settlement.

The budget settlement is a four-year agreement that will implement a pay plan for deputies that will increase the sheriff's budget by $1 million this year and pay the Sheriff's Office $2.6 million each year for the next two years. The final year of the agreement would provide the Sheriff's Office with $2.9 million.

Morgan filed an appeal in October to the governor's office asking for more than $2 million in additional funds for the 2017-2018 fiscal year to address pay compression issues that he said are causing his office to lose deputies faster than they can be replaced.

Funding for the agreement will come from cuts to outside agencies. Funding for outside agencies, except for Pathways for Change and Community Health Northwest Florida, will be cut by 50 percent. An additional $125,000 will come each year from the commissioners' discretionary fund, which represents a reduction of 50 percent to discretionary funds.

In return, the Sheriff's Office has agreed to spend 50 percent of the law enforcement trust fund on school resource officers.

The commission voted on the mediation agreement after a closed-door, attorney-client session Thursday morning.

The agreement will still have to be ratified with an formal interlocal agreement between the Sheriff's Office and the county. The changes to the budget will also have to be approved with budget amendment votes.

"We are encouraged by the progress to properly compensate our deputies," ECSO Chief Deputy Eric Haines said to the News Journal in a written statement. "Until the final agreement is signed by the BOCC, we feel it is inappropriate to discuss the details of the settlement."

Commissioner Lumon May wanted to postpone the vote until it was clear how much each outside agency would lose in funding. He added 30 minutes was not enough time to debate a measure that would commit millions of dollars.

A list of 16 outside agencies was attached to the mediation agreement. The list included groups from the Pensacola-Escambia Economic Development Commission to United Way. The agencies were allocated a total of $1.3 million from the county, but it was unclear how much funding, if any, each agency could lose.

According to the county's adopted budget, the county allocated $1.68 million to outside agencies.

The agreement limits funding for outside agencies in future years to $734,374.

May asked County Attorney Alison Rogers if the attached list was the complete list of affected outside agencies, and she said she did not know.

"That's valid enough to postpone this vote, Mr. Chairman," May said. "For the record, your legal counsel has told you, she's not clear on it, but you're still going to vote on it."

Commission Chairman Jeff Bergosh said the agreement is a step forward but will require tough decisions.

"None of this is easy, and there's a give and a take," Bergosh said.

Commissioner Steven Barry said the agreement removes the right of the board to set the county's budget and he was concerned about the language dealing with the law enforcement trust fund.

"The language referencing the LETF funds says 'if possible' and 'when feasible,'" Barry said. "That's a win on a relatively small dollar amount per year. We're giving somebody else the authority to not just fund them, but to have another constitutional (officer) to have direct control over the way that we prepare the budget."

The law enforcement trust fund is made up of money seized by police from suspected criminal activity and can vary in amount from year to year. In the last three years, the balance has swung from $342,000 to $746,000.

Commissioner Grover Robinson said he would do everything he could to support continuing to fund outside agencies any way he could.

"This is an agreement that moves us forward," Robinson said. "Nothing happens until we have a final document here. I think there is merit in us moving this forward and still evaluating where we go. I think the people want to see us trying to negotiate through this. I don't disagree, gentleman, with what y'all have problems with in here."

Commissioner Doug Underhill said the board showed leadership by cutting their discretionary funds, but said he expected commissioners to get calls from the outside agencies facing cuts.

"The only answer to that is, is your budget more important than public safety in Escambia County, and obviously the answer to that is going to be no," Underhill said. "Most of them will recognize that these are tight times, and we're tightening our belts."

Underhill said the only other option was to raise taxes, which, he said, nobody wants.

"We are moving away from that kind of personality-based politics and more toward policy and procedure-based governance," Underhill said. "It took a lot of courage. I'm in a campaign this year, and so is Grover. And both of us voted for something that's going to be unpopular with a lot of people. I think that says a lot for the type of government we have now here in Escambia County."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

Outside agencies listed in agreement

Below are the 16 outside agencies included in the agreement between the county and the Sheriff’s Office. The amount listed represents their current allocation from the county.